Millions of people travel every single day; some travel for business, some for pleasure, and some because they have a need to get from one place to another. Business travelers often travel with very short notice, where plane tickets, hotel reservations, and other pieces of their itinerary are commonly purchased very quickly and through an agent or specialized system. As a result, business travelers do not often have the opportunity to shop around for better deals, and are sometimes not even aware of different options when it comes to their travels. Other travelers, on the other hand, often do make an attempt to shop around for less expensive options when it comes to their travel itinerary. However, with the myriad of merchants and vendors and other travel providers that exist, it may be difficult or impossible for a traveler to even be aware of each potential vendor for an aspect of their trip, let alone to price using each vendor.
In an effort to assist travelers, some systems have been developed that operate as aggregators for travel booking. Such systems often operate by having a potential traveler provide itinerary information, and then by searching for price estimates and other information across a plurality of other booking systems. As such, a potential traveler can use one application program or website rather than several, to get the information that would have been obtained by using each program or website individually. However, to use such systems the potential traveler must first be aware of such a system. In addition, such systems can only provide from services that allow such information to be aggregated. As a result, potential travelers may continue to be limited in terms of achieving the best possible deal by pricing a plurality of different providers.
Furthermore, existing systems can also hamper the ability for travel providers to earn travelers' business. For instance, a potential traveler may attempt to book a hotel through a few aggregating services or travel providers. Each of the travel providers may not be aware of the potential traveler's attempts to book through other services, and may not appreciate the urgency of the traveler's booking and may thus not be able to take advantage by offering the potential traveler special deals or discounts. In addition, some travel providers, including those that may have the best offers for the potential traveler, may not even be consulted by the potential traveler and may themselves not be aware of the potential traveler, and thus miss out on potential revenue they may have earned if provided the opportunity to earn the traveler's business.
Thus, there is a need for a technological solution to enable travel itinerary information submitted by an individual for desired travel to be made publicly available to travel providers, and that may provide the travel providers with an opportunity to earn the business of the individual with respect to the travel itinerary.